Valentine's Message
by NejiKikyoAnimeRose
Summary: Naruto has an interesting encounter with an interesting young man while delivering Valentine's Day messages.  Completely plotless little ditty.  NaruNeji.  Utterly farcical and one hell of a fun piece to write.


Oh, Valentine's Day was a beautiful day. It was a day of chocolate candies and little hearts and cliché declarations of love that someone already knew about. Yes, Valentine's Day was an absolutely beautiful day.

Just not for Naruto.

Uzumaki Naruto was your average guy living an average life with average friends and average everything else. The only difference between him and your average guy was the fact that he didn't give a shit how average he was. He loved every single fucking aspect of his life, no matter how average. Except for this one little tiny aspect that he hated with every single bit of his body and soul.

Naruto was currently standing outside the apartment of this guy, Hyuuga Neji, dressed as a fucking heart, holding a bouquet of flowers and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. Naruto had a habit of taking odd-jobs when his schedule allowed. He was never averse to making a little extra money and so far, the Valentine's messages he'd been asked to send were relatively tame and just overall mushy and romantic; everything he expected. But then this girl Tenten had called him and asked him to dress up in a damned heart outfit and sing a song for her uptight best friend Neji. He had no idea what was in this chick's head, but she'd paid him pretty well for it. What was five minutes of complete and utter embarrassment to fifty bucks? Exactly.

So, here he was, waiting for this Hyuuga guy to open the door so he could get the song over with.

A sound interrupted his annoyed train of thoughts and he looked up to see a tall brunette about his age standing in the doorway to a neat apartment. Hyuuga Neji. Naruto almost chuckled at his shocked as hell face. It was mainly the eyes that gave him away. Maybe it was the fact that they had no pupils, but they looked rounder than plates.

As soon as Naruto opened his mouth to sing, however, those eyes narrowed and the man said, "Don't even think about it." Now it was Naruto's turn to be surprised, and all he could do was blink as the man looked around at the thankfully empty hall that stretched before him. The man glared at nothing in particular and grabbed the corner of Naruto's heart. Before Naruto could protest, he was being dragged into the apartment and shoved as far from the door as was possible. The door was slammed and Naruto was soon face to face with a very irritated looking brunette, who folded his arms and glared at the pink monstrosity that had Naruto trapped.

"Take it off right now," the man growled, clearly very angry with something (hopefully not with him, I mean, come on, Naruto barely knew the guy). Naruto held up his hands in a defensive gesture.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said. "Hold up a second, there. Look, you're hot and all, but I really think we shouldn't be moving this fast for a first da—" The man's glare turned lethal and he pointed a very pointed finger towards a small hallway just behind Naruto.

"Go to the bathroom and take that _thing _off!" he demanded. "I swear to _god_, I will _kill_ her for this!" Confused and a little scared, Naruto quickly turned and scampered down the hall to the bathroom to which Neji had vaguely indicated as fast as his little heart legs would allow. As soon as the door closed and Naruto was separated from the crazy man in the main room, Naruto quickly ripped the heart costume from his poor suffocating body. He grinned in sadistic glee as it fell pathetically to the floor and he cheered inwardly at its demise.

"Ding dong!" he cheered while pumping his fist into the air. "That little fucker is dead!" He left the bathroom and made his jaunty way back into the main room, where the other man was still fuming. At the sight, he paused and hesitated. Well, he did have a job to complete. Sighing, he went to the door where he'd dropped the gifts he'd been paid to give and picked them up. He gave them a once over and straightened out the bouquet as much as he could. Once that was done, he nodded in satisfaction and went over to present the gifts to the angry man. Grinning, he tapped the man on the shoulder. The guy whipped around.

"What?" he snapped, hands on his hips. Naruto held his ground, his height advantage making him a little smug. He leaned forward with a little smirk.

"Happy Valentine's Day from Tenten," he said, handing the flowers and chocolates to the man. He blacked out a moment later as a fist came flying into his face.

* * *

Naruto groaned as he painfully regained consciousness, wincing as a sharp pain washed through him, beginning in his face. He blinked his eyes and looked around. The blob of color that was sitting stiffly to his left slowly took shape.

"…Who…?" he called weakly. The figure twitched and turned dangerous white eyes upon him.

"_Neji_," he hissed. Naruto blinked some more and pulled himself sluggishly into a sitting position. Tenderly, he ran his hand across his face and flinched when his fingers brushed the tender skin of his now throbbing right cheek.

"Ow," he mumbled. "You've got one hell of an arm on you." The man – Neji – turned slightly red and looked at his feet.

"Yes, well, I apologize for that," he said stiffly, handing Naruto what appeared to be ice wrapped in a dish towel. And it was a really cute one too, with little lilies all over it. Naruto "hmm"-ed thoughtfully and accepted the ice, slapping it immediately but gently onto his poor cheek. He focused his eyes obviously and fixedly upon Neji, who had yet to look at him still. Naruto's blue eyes took in every detail of this man before him; every follicle of hair, every pore of skin his eyes could see, eve wrinkle of his clothes.

"Hey, uh, I don't mean to be forward about this and… please don't punch me again," he started awkwardly. "But, uh, are you… Are you gay?" Neji froze beside him and Naruto panicked for a moment.

_That's it. I'm dead. He's going to kill me. Nice going, Naruto, nice going. You just had to ask the guy who's probably secretly an assassin from Call of Duty about his sexual orientation. Perfect. Just perfect._

Naruto's nonsensical mental babble was cut short as Neji turned slowly to face him, his face now quite red from embarrassment, anger, and a multitude of other things.

"Yes," he responded as calmly as he could. His voice was strong, but there was a little waver to it that put Naruto at least a little at ease and cast something of a new light on Neji. So this guy was gay. Maybe he was still in the closet or something. Maybe that was why he was so nervous. Naruto tried to give him a genuine, not shaky smile.

"Heh, I didn't mean to be nosy or anything," he said. "It's just that that girl, Tenten said some weird stuff about you and she didn't seem like she was your girlfriend or anything, so I thought—"

"She's not." Naruto blinked. Neji stared at him with very cold eyes and Naruto for a moment feared for this Tenten. He quickly held up his hands in a peace gesture.

"Okay, she's not," he affirmed. "Best friend?" Neji folded his arms and crossed his legs quite casually but there was still an overt sophistication to the movement. Naruto made a mental note of this for later, but he didn't know why.

"One of them," he said with pursed lips. He didn't sound very pleased about that.

"Cool." The pair plunged head first into a very tense silence and Naruto glanced at virtually everything in the room so that he wouldn't have to look Neji in the face. Neji, for his part, wasn't making much of an effort to keep a conversation going with this complete stranger either. I mean, come on folks, what would you expect? He just almost received a Valentine's message from a guy he'd never met before, – who also happened to steal a bit of his breath away once that awful heart costume was off – whom he just punched out of consciousness, _and _to whom he had willingly come out. Who the hell was this bastard? Was he single?

Neji's face suddenly burned to a deep crimson and Naruto gave him a puzzled look. Boy, this guy was jittery.

_No shit, Sherlock. He just came out to you? A perfect stranger he's known, what, five seconds? Maybe ten? _

Naruto inwardly slapped himself. Of course the guy would be acting weird after that! Naruto quickly searched his mind for something to say, and his eyes landed on a picture of two men standing side by side, each with a child in their arms. Naruto almost laughed out loud at the sudden onslaught of family the picture incited. He turned to Neji with a lopsided smile.

"Is that your family?" he asked, indicating to the picture. Neji turned to look at the photo and his body jerked almost unnoticeably. He gently bit the inside of his lip and tried to find the right response.

"Yes," he replied slowly, carefully. "The one with the bandages around his forehead is my father. The one beside him is his twin brother, my uncle. The child in my uncle's arms is my cousin, Hinata." Naruto nodded and grinned at the image of the little child.

"She's cute," he remarked. Neji nodded.

"She is. I've been estranged from her since she was about that age."

"…"

"…"

"Oh."

Neji's indifferent façade was beginning to wear off. He was acting like a total idiot in front of this guy and he couldn't seem to stop no matter how much his rational mind screamed at him to stop. Neji had never looked like this much of an idiot in front of someone before. Why the hell did it have to be now! In front of this person! Whom Neji may or may not have been developing an attraction towards!

Naruto was distinctly uncomfortable and tried very hard not to fidget. Why the hell didn't he just leave? He'd delivered the chocolates and the roses, why the hell didn't he just listen to his fucking common sense and get the hell out of this crazy guy's apartment?

Naruto honestly had no damn clue.

"So, uh, where's," Naruto paused to clear his throat. "Where's your father?"

Now, this had Neji closing off immediately, erecting barriers and fortresses around his emotions and everything that spoke of any vulnerability. It had happened five years ago and he still had not been able to distance himself from the tragedy. Or the feelings that accompanied the tragedy.

Neji swallowed hard and quickly crossed over to the mantle upon which proudly stood the picture of his family. In one swift but forced motion, he had the frame down upon its face so the occupants of the photo were no longer visible. He took a deep breath.

"That's not really your concern," he managed through tight lips and gritted teeth.

The bemusing and slightly amusing but largely lighthearted tension and awkwardness quickly fled the apartment in favor of something darker and much more oppressive. Naruto could almost see it, whatever it was, consume Neji piece by piece. His body slowly became rigid and he straightened his back so that he stood at his full height. His hands were by his side and as still as if they were made of stone. His eyes were closed and his lips were a thin white line on that impossibly white face.

Naruto's stomach seemed to sink lower in his abdomen as he watched the young man turn inward more and more as each second trudged by. He couldn't just watch this.

He stood to his feet and walked over to Neji, looking at him seriously. Neither man said anything and after a minute in silence, Naruto turned to the mantle and repositioned the picture so that it once again faced him proudly. He could see the two men up close now and he marveled at how twin-like they really were; the resemblance was striking and almost unrealistic. The little girl was now revealed to be sleeping in her father's arms, while a young boy a year or so older than her was waving enthusiastically towards the camera with a very large smile on his face. He appeared to be laughing and Naruto came to the immediate conclusion that that little boy was Neji. He wondered absently if Neji ever smiled like that anymore.

"Are you estranged from him too?" Naruto asked softly. He knew he was being beyond nosy, he was being downright rude, but he didn't care. This kind of emotional shutdown was not healthy.

Neji shook his head. Naruto tried again.

"Did he leave you and your mom?"

Again, Neji shook his head. Naruto was persistent.

"Is he dead?"

A shiver coursed through Neji's body and he raked his teeth over his bottom lip, clenching his hands into fists. He nodded. Naruto was silent, but Neji didn't dare look up at him.

This was exactly how he'd wanted to spend his Valentine's Day! With a random man who pressed and prodded until he got every single detail about Neji's personal life. _Every single one_. What more was there to find out, anyway? Neji had already divulged the three most important things about him; that he was gay, his father had died, and he was completely separated from his remaining family.

There was suddenly an arm around his shoulders and Neji's eyes widened. He turned to see Naruto standing closer than Neji remembered, looking down at him with a small smile.

"I lost my parents, too," he said softly. Neji smiled weakly at him, more appreciative of the simple statement than he could himself fathom. Naruto nudged his side.

"So, are you gonna be okay?" he asked a little unsurely. Neji rolled his eyes and pushed back the residual loneliness as he so often did, nodding a little impatiently. Naruto grinned.

"Good, cuz today's Valentine's Day," he exclaimed. "We can't let that day go to waste, now, can we?" His eyes flashed and Neji shivered at the fire and determination he saw in them. This guy was something else.

Naruto promptly dropped to one knee and spread his arms dramatically. He smiled a one thousand-watt smile at Neji and waggled his eyebrows.

"So, Neji, will you be my Valentine?" he asked. When Neji only gaped at him, he quickly clarified, "Only for this one day if you want. You don't have to make a commitment or anything. It's just…" He purposefully trailed off and just let his instincts lead his actions, as he usually did in situations like these, and rested his elbow on his knee and his face in his hand.

"No one should spend Valentine's Day by themselves," he pointed out. Neji stared at him for a moment longer, still totally floored and not sure what to say at all. Naruto waited patiently. Finally, Neji remembered how to speak.

"Well…" he started. "What… what would we do?" Naruto shrugged and brushed the question aside.

"Ah, we'll do a bit of this, a bit of that," he answered. "A bit of everything." Oh, sweet Jesus, was that innuendo intentional? Neji had to believe it was because the smirk on Naruto's face as he said it was _definitely not _an accident. And now, Naruto was standing to his feet and walking over, and holy _shit _those blue eyes held possibly the most intensity Neji had ever seen.

Naruto was surprised at his sudden confidence as he positively sauntered over to Neji and stopped only when their faces were inches apart. Neji's hair smelled pretty damn nice. His face looked boyish as he smiled down at Neji.

"We can just head out and have a day on the town," he proposed. Neji couldn't stop the small smile from resting comfortably on his face as he registered the situation. He was being asked out! This was revolutionary.

"Alright," he breathed, more than a little unsure of himself, but completely ready to take a chance and be spontaneous for once in his life.

Naruto's eyes flashed his excitement and he grabbed Neji's hand and pulled them from the apartment.

* * *

It was late by the time Naruto and Neji returned to the apartment, flushed from excitement and a little unsteady on their feet because of Valentine's Day alcohol – Naruto more so than Neji.

Naruto flopped down on the white couch, letting his head fall back heavily. He huffed out a laugh.

"That was the most fun I've had in fucking _weeks_," he groaned, still laughing. "And here I thought you had a stick up your ass." Neji was very tempted to make a snappy retort, and even had to fight the urge, but was suddenly overcome once again with Naruto's presence and hesitated to do anything that might distance them after that fantastic day. So he said nothing.

Naruto suddenly lifted his head and looked at him, curious look adorning his features.

"I didn't know that you were so interesting," he remarked. Neji arched an eyebrow and sent Naruto a sideways glance.

"I didn't know you were a terrible judge of character," he shot back, not even trying to hide his smirk. Naruto slammed a fist into his chest and his face contorted into a look of mock pain.

"Oh, don't I deserve that," he teased. "Touché, Neji, touché." He sighed and relaxed further into the soft couch. He maintained eye contact with Neji and when the young brunette didn't get the hint, he rolled his eyes and gestured obviously to the spot beside him.

"You're not gonna sit down?" Neji looked at him and slowly walked towards the couch. He sat down a good leaving a good distance between the two and Naruto held up his hands in defeat.

"Alright, now this is more awkward than when you were standing," he complained, jumping to his feet. Before Neji could react, Naruto was reaching out to _him_ and pulling _him_ to his feet too. Neji looked at Naruto's boyish face, still flushed adorably from their day of fun. He was looking back at Neji with a look on his face that Neji wasn't quite sure he was comfortable with; he would almost say there was a tenderness on the blonde man's face that transcended anything Neji had ever received from someone before. And the way Naruto's eyes were roaming all over him…

Neji shivered. Really, the guy was as far from subtle as one could get and Neji was still hesitant to believe his hunch.

"I don't know what the hell I'm doing, or why I'm doing it," Naruto explained suddenly, his voice lowering. Neji started and turned to Naruto just in time to see him slowly begin to close the distance between them. "I just know that you are monumentally sexy and I would really like to kiss you right about now. You wouldn't mind, would you?" Neji swallowed hard, at a loss for words as Naruto cautiously placed a hand on his midriff, moving closer to him still. Neji could only shake his head, not able to believe his ears. A second later, Naruto descended upon him.

Neji's virgin lips seemed to come alive the moment Naruto touched them. He knew it was cliché and he knew it was stupid, but it was also Valentine's Day. This shit was what this day was _for_. So, quite frankly, Neji didn't give a damn.

Neji knew immediately that Naruto had done this before, just as Naruto knew immediately that Neji had never done this before. The blonde man's experience seemed to shine as bright as those eyes of his and Neji couldn't help but surrender to it.

The kiss was a little sloppy and Neji could formulate a list of things in his head that he was doing wrong as Naruto gently ravaged his lips, but none of those things seemed to deter his… partner; so Neji just let it slide.

Soon, they were pulling apart for air and, as Naruto's lips pulled away from Neji's, they also managed to pull a little gasp from the brunette's throat as well. Neji blushed and forced himself not to look away from Naruto, who was grinning like a fool. It was entirely genuine as he traced his fingers along the contours of Neji's reddened cheek.

"See?" he whispered, his voice husky and heavy, in great contrast with his light and warm breath. Neji shivered as that breath fluttered across his face. "Diabolically sexy." Neji managed a smile of his own and leaned against Naruto again, taking what he felt was a huge risk. He still didn't really know this man and he was already opening up to him more than he had to anyone else. But still.

As strong arms tightened around him and Naruto rested their foreheads together, laying another gentle kiss to his lips, Neji found he didn't really care about all that.

His smile grew and he nudged Naruto's cheek to get his attention. Two pairs of eyes met.

"Be my Valentine next year?" he asked in a confident voice, despite the fear of rejection that bubbled just below his surface. Naruto's face lit up.

"You know it," he declared against Neji's lips, a moment before he drew them together once more, reveling in this new fantastic freedom of his.

Oh, Valentine's Day was a beautiful day.

* * *

**HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Uh, actually... HAPPY TWO DAYS AFTER VALENTINE'S DAY! I'm sorry it took so long to get this updated... I really have no good excuse. I'm a bad author! :(**

**Anyway, I no own Naruto or the characters but I do like to steal them from time to time. **

**Okay, in explanation of this piece, I was tired of making Naruto a cheater so I decided to make him Sexy McAwesome, so there! And Neji gets to be the damsel he sweeps away to the awesome land of hawtness and yaoi. :3 **

**I didn't really edit this, but I probably will later. It's late and I have homework to put off till tomorrow. But I had to dedicate something to Valentine's Day, even if it was this little piece of nonsensical babble. I hope at least someone enjoys this.**

**ANYwho, once again, HAPPY DAY OF COMMERCIALIZED LOVE - I MEAN VALENTINE'S DAY! P.S. I tried to make little asterisk hearts in place of the lines but since FFnet is a douche, it wouldn't save them for me, so you guys are stuck with a boring line to signify a scene/time change instead of something that's actually significant to the holiday. Sorry. *sulk*  
**


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